What is the blank vote and how important was it in the previous elections?

There is much debate about what the position of the voters will be in these 2023 presidential elections. If the political climate will impact voter turnout, if anti-establishment candidates will grow or what will happen to the blank vote. Regarding this last variable, we ask ourselves: what is the blank vote? How is it counted in the scrutiny? What incidence did it have in previous presidential elections and what happened so far in the provincial elections? On this note, all about the blank vote.

What is the blank vote?

It’s a “valid” votesince, as the National Electoral Chamber explains, “it represents a manifestation of the willingness of the electorate to refrain from choosing between the various proposals formulated in a legal system of suffrage; thus expressing their disagreement with all the candidates and with the proposals made by the political parties”. This differentiates it from invalid, challenged or appealed votes.

The valid votes are divided into 2: the affirmativethat is, when one of the electoral options is chosen available; and the blancoswhen the ballot box is deposited empty envelope or with a paper of any color without inscriptions or images. “The blank vote can be the expression of dissatisfaction with the existing offer, but sometimes it can also be the result of strategic maneuvers”, he explained to Reverse Ana María Mustapic, political scientist and professor at the Torcuato Di Tella University (UTDT).

And he cited the example of the legislative elections in the Province of Buenos Aires in 2009, in which some districts, such as Tigre, registered more blank votes than others. “The mechanism was the short ballot. That is to say, Parties that when the elections are simultaneous present lists for a certain category, for example, provincial legislators and councilors, but do not present lists for national candidates.explained the specialist.

And he added: “Those who deposited the short ballot of the party that presented it with these 2 categories, did not include the category of national deputy. That uncast vote was considered a blank vote.”

According to the specialist, “the ballot cut may not include one of the categories and that missing category is considered blank. So, sometimes part of the blank vote may be the result of strategic use of the ballot in simultaneous elections”.

How are blank votes counted?

There is a distinction between the Primary, Simultaneous and Mandatory Open (PASO) elections and the general elections. In the primaries, according to the law, the lists must exceed the threshold of 1.5% of the votes validly cast, that is, the affirmative and the white ones. That’s why, the percentage of blank votes is included in the total number of votes for the different lists.

In general elections it is different. To find out, for example, if a candidate for president obtained the necessary percentage of votes to win in the first round blank votes are excluded from the calculationsince the national Constitution, since 1994, speaks of “validly cast affirmative votes.”

How is the blank vote different from the contested vote, the invalid vote and the appealed vote?

Outside the so-called “valid” votes are the null, contested and appealed. He vote is null when unofficial ballots are used or if, along with the official ballot, foreign objects were introduced, or when ballots from different groups are inserted for the same position, among other cases.

Instead, the votes contested They are those cases in which the polling station authorities consider that the voter is not the holder of the DNI that they present. The electoral Justice must then determine its validity.

For their part, the appealed They are the votes whose validity or invalidity was questioned by one of the party prosecutors. If in the definitive scrutiny the electoral Justice considers that they are valid, they are incorporated into the corresponding party.

How much did the blank vote represent in the previous presidential elections?

From 1983 to the present, the blank vote in presidential elections represented an average of 2.8% of the total votes cast. He record of blank votes was recorded in the 2007 election: 6.43% of the total votes. The lowest point had been recorded 4 years earlier. In the presidential elections of 2003 this type of suffrage had represented 0.98% of the total.

What happened in the provincial elections that have been held so far?

There are 10 provinces that have already elected governor so far in 2023. In 9 of them the percentage of blank votes moved from a floor of 2.89% (Tucumán) to 7.96% (Jujuy). The most outstanding case was that of Land of Fire. There, Governor Gustavo Melella (Unidos Hacemos Futuro) was re-elected with 51.2% of the vote. If the blank vote were a candidate formula, would have obtained second place, with 21.6% of the votes.

This note is part of Reverse, the collaborative journalistic project coordinated by checked y AFP that unites more than 100 media and technology companies to intensify the fight against disinformation during the electoral campaign.

* Author: Manuel Tarricone

Edition 1: Florencia Ballarino

Edition 2: Juan José Domínguez

Edition 3: Matías Di Santi

Edition 4: Anella Reta

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